He left five minutes later.
Audrey waited until his car disappeared before looking at me.
“Are we still going?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
That night, she helped her sisters label moving boxes.
I thought the worst was behind us.
I had no idea that across town, inside Vivian Mercer’s estate, another problem was already waiting to explode.
Serena moved into Vivian’s guesthouse less than two months after Graham and I separated.
She understood Vivian immediately.
Vivian cared about bloodlines, appearances, and legacy.
So Serena gave her exactly what she wanted.
Theo became “the Mercer grandson.”
Vivian had three granddaughters, but somehow the arrival of one little boy transformed her understanding of inheritance.
She bought him monogrammed clothes.
Commissioned his portrait.
Opened an education account.
She even began talking about eventually transferring part of the family estate directly to him.
Serena encouraged every second of it.
She brought Vivian tea.
Remembered her medication.
